The present invention relates generally to refuse disposal and recycling systems, and more particularly, is directed to a refuse disposal and recycling apparatus for high rise buildings.
Because of environmental and monetary reasons, many laws have been passed, requiring recycling of different types of refuse. However, because of the different types of refuse, it is necessary that the refuse be separated. For individual homeowners with relatively small amounts of refuse, this is a relatively easy task. However, in high rise apartment buildings, this becomes more complicated.
Specifically, high rise apartment buildings generally include a refuse chute that extends the length of the building. The refuse chute is accessible from each floor in order for the residents to deposit refuse therein, and terminates in the basement or other lower level. Therefore, all refuse is deposited in the chute, regardless of the different types of refuse. In order to recycle the refuse, the different types of refuse which fall through the chute to the basement must be separated by an employee of the building. This becomes burdensome, time-consuming and costly.
Alternatively, separate refuse bins for the different types of refuse are placed in a garbage room on each floor, by which the residents are requested to separate the refuse. As a result, only the non-recyclable refuse is supplied to the refuse chute. However, this requires an employee of the building to periodically empty the refuse bins on each floor, which becomes burdensome, time-consuming and costly, particularly in buildings containing a large number of floors. Further, because of the many varied types of refuse, for example, paper, aluminum, plastic, glass bottles and the like, the number of refuse bins that would be required on each floor would occupy a great amount of space.
A recycling system for high rise apartment buildings that seeks to overcome the aforementioned problems is sold by Hi-Rise Recycling Systems, Inc. of Miami, Fla. under the trademark "Hi-Rise Recycling System". In this system, a carousel is positioned at the bottom of the refuse chute, and a plurality of pie or sector-shaped bins are arranged on the carousel, with each bin corresponding to a different refuse item. When a resident of the apartment building desires to empty refuse down the chute, the resident pushes a button on a control panel in the refuse room on that floor, corresponding to the type of refuse the resident wants to deposit down the chute. For example, if paper is to be deposited down the chute, the resident pushes the button on the control panel corresponding to paper. As a result, a signal is sent to a rotational drive motor for the carousel so as to rotate the carousel until the sector-shaped paper bin is positioned below the refuse chute. When the paper bin is properly positioned below the refuse chute, a door to the chute can be opened by the resident to deposit the refuse therein.
However, this system has some severe drawbacks. First, because of the use of sector-shaped bins, the bins must be manually placed on and removed from the carousel by an employee of the building. Because the bins are rather heavy, the bins are mounted on rollers, which further adds to the cost of the system. This detracts from the automatic nature of the system. Second, each time that a bin is filled, regardless of the filled capacity of the other bins, the filled bin must be removed, and the system must be shut down. Third, because the bins that are used are sector-shaped, they are not of a conventional type which are amenable to emptying into a garbage truck by an automatic unloading apparatus. Fourth, when the system is being used by one resident with one type of refuse, it cannot be used by another resident for a different type of refuse. Thus, for example, if one resident on one floor is arranging the paper bin below the chute, one or more residents may be awaiting use of the system for other types of refuse, which is inefficient. Fifth, because of the control panel on each floor and the electronic circuitry associated therewith, the system is relatively complex and costly to manufacture and operate.